We Are Superior
by xxxIggyxFangxxx
Summary: Jake makes a proposition to Kotetsu after he loses his job, and soon, Barnaby, Keith, and Ivan will follow and come close to destroying what they used to protect.


A/N: Kotetsu has been laid off of his job because he let a criminal go that he didn't think should've been persecuted. No one's talked to him since, not even his daughter. Jake calls him and makes him an offer to have his job back. Be a hero. Barnaby gets the same call and goes to check it out.

Rated T

Fanfic request from love-child-tokyo

Chapter 1

Wild Tiger

It began with a letter in the mail. Kotetsu checked the mailbox frequently to get any news on how Kaede was doing. After an incident where he let a criminal get away and his name was dragged and scraped around the mud, most anyone close to him was cold. When he tried to contact them, they would make up excuses and say that they were too busy to talk. He would visit their houses out of worry, and they wouldn't answer the door. Sometimes it would be obvious that they were home. He didn't like being avoided; it made him mad and uncomfortable. Just one mistake which was all it would take. And he knew that most of all. Being an older super hero, he knew the price of letting people that meant harm escape.

There was no letter from Kaede that day. But there was a small postal code from an address he'd never seen, but was in the same area. He was suspicious. Barnaby was one of the few that would listen to him, but he wasn't around much. He always had signings and stands to give around Japan and other parts in Asia. Times had been tough on him, too.

"Ah – no good," he muttered, scratching his chin. The hair tickled his fingertips, and he looked at the bills in his lap. He would need to find a job now. Not for the money's sake, but to keep him occupied.

"I don't remember feeling like this since I got that balloon out of the tree for that kid…" he sighed remembering the day when he felt so unwanted. "I understand it better, now…"

The phone buzzed in his back pocket. He fished it out and clicked the "Answer", putting it up to his ear.

"Hello?"  
"Hey,"

It'd been a while since I'd heard Barnaby's voice and I looked at the phone before putting it back up to my ear. There was talking on the other end and there were sounds of bustling.

"At another one of your autograph signings, I hear?"

"Do you want an autograph? I can get you one though they are going pretty fast; you'll have to tell me now,"

I furrowed my brows and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"I can hear the gears turning in your hollow head, Wild Tiger,"

"Hey!" I pouted against the phone. "I am very smart, I've outsmarted many people in my time! You haven't had the experience I have…"

"Yes, but now is the present. If you keep spending your time remembering your glory days you won't get anywhere,"  
"Why are you calling me?!" I bit at him. There was silence on the other end.

"I wanted to check on you. You were laid off not long ago and I was seeing if you're still right in the head. It doesn't sound like you've gone to the dogs so that's good…" he sounded like he was really worried.

"Thanks for checking up on me, that's nice of you." I smiled. Someone still cared about me enough to check in.

The other end sounded muffled like it was slid under fabric. He was probably talking to someone else. There was a couple of shuffling and I moved the cell phone away from my ear while I waited. When I heard a change in the atmosphere I put it back up.  
"I have another signing to go to,"

"When are you going to c –"

He'd hung up on me and I let out a long irritated sigh and threw it down onto the sofa, and put my palms up to my eyes, shutting out everything. It was so quiet. I used to enjoy not having Barnaby here but now I feel lonely. There was no one to talk to or argue with and Antonio had been a stranger, everyone else, too.

-Bring, bring…bring, bring…bring, bring…-

Keeping one of my hands up to my eyes, I picked up the phone with the other and put it on speaker.

"Hey…"  
"Is this Wild Tiger? The Crusher of Justice?"

"…" I sat up and looked at the caller id. It was on a restricted network.

"Hello?"  
"Um, yes, this is…" – sigh – "the retired, Wild Tiger. Are you a fan?"  
"Of sorts. I'm enough of a fan to be disappointed when they took you off the air,"

"I'm surprised that anyone in the community misses me,"  
"Oh, I miss you. A lot. And, there are some others from Hero's TV that miss you, too. I'm working with a group to get you back on air and noticed," I started to feel nervous.

First it was someone calling on a restricted line who knew who I was, and they were telling me that I could get my job back.

"Are you still there?"  
"Y-yes, I am," I answered.  
"Good. If you're interested at all, come to this address," the woman said the location a couple of times until I remembered it.

"I hope to be seeing you there, Tiger. You'll come back to TV, and everyone will remember your name, and you'll be the most talked about sensation…" the line went dead.

I wrote down what the address was on a slip of paper when I found one. There was nothing else to lose and it wouldn't make anything different if I were to get attacked by someone now that I wasn't a superhero anymore. So, I figured that there was nothing to lose. I left a note on the banister for Barnaby when he came back home, and headed out to the address.

Barnaby Brooks Jr.

I hung up on Kotetsu pretty quick, though I had good reason. My employer for the time told me that there was a message on a couple of staff's phones, telling them to relay a message to me about being at a certain location. I wasn't going to go, if that person hadn't contacted me, too. I knew that voice. I knew it very, very well. It was irritating just how familiar it was. If I told anyone about this they'd make sure that I couldn't go. They'd make sure to have people keep an eye on me, too. I wasn't going to let that happen.

It was quiet and no one was moving around inside. There was, however, a figure leaning up against the wall nearest to the door. I got out of my car and walked up to the door. I kept a close eye on the figure, there. It was a girl. I knew it was Kriem. That confirmed my suspicions of who the caller was.

A gust of hot air burst through the door when I came in. I pulled my jacket off and looked around inside. There was a light shining in the center of a table. A form was on one couch, bent forward, and the other had its feet kicked up.

"What took so long?" Jake asked looking at me.

I stood in the doorway. The other form across from Jake turned its head towards me. I looked at him.

"I wasn't going to come. But then I figured that if I'd stayed away, and told someone about the message, I would miss out on beating you up…" I was holding myself back from going at him. I could feel revenge at my fingers.

"Hmm, well then, I'm glad you decided to pay a visit. It's nice to have company, you know. I have Kriem but it's nice to have some guests,"

The figure snorted and chuckled darkly. Then it stood, and turned to face me. My eyebrows shot up. His eyes burned dark like a flame, red haunting embers. Most of his outfit was red, and…it was familiar. The once white vest was now black, and where it would have been green, the button up shirt was red. But he looked crazed.

"How long has it been, Barnaby? How's the spotlight? You have mine, now, and yours, it must be great. How is the company treating you? You can see how it's treated me," this…Kotetsu, smiled with venom.

Jake walked over to him and laid an arm around his shoulder. He grinned just as crazily as the…one I called my partner. I kept a hard stare at the two of them. What was this? He had hated this man the same as me. Why…how was he siding with him?  
"You wanted to know why you were called to come here, right? Here's the surprise, the drum roll would make it more dramatic, and I do think it's worth it," Jake crooned, walking up closer with the red eyed Wild Tiger still locked in a somewhat choke hold. I started feeling funny. My eyes burned and my vision blurred. I took off my glasses and rubbed my eyes, backing up until my back hit the wall. Jake stood still, and Kotetsu walked up in front of me. Whatever madness he had in him was starting to affect me, too.  
My hair got a lighter tone. I could tell because the parts in front of my eyes were changing. The burning began to cease but all I saw for a good two minutes was black. Fog swirled up in my brain until I couldn't remember why I'd come there.

"Don't you feel like you've been wronged? You save lives every day, and you have to be perfect. They don't have to be, but you do, because you're the hero, the savior of them, and it matters what you do. Take this hero," – his hand cupped the side of Kotetsu's face – "he's been so good to these people. Protected them and made his life out to be helpful and good. And look where it's gotten him. Because he believed that a man didn't deserve to be persecuted for his crime, all that good he's ever done, doesn't count. Eventually, you'll feel remorse for someone, and you'll do the exact same thing. And this will happen to you. Save yourself now! Save yourself a lot of time and grief…and join me."

Everything in me was saying to go with it. Saying to listen to him. His words made sense to me. I'd thought he was insane, but now I was starting to see the world the same way as him. We were superior.

I stood up, and looked into my glasses. My eyes were the same red as Kotetsu's, now. I…I wanted this…I threw my glasses to the ground, and they shattered. My jacket was dropped on top of the glass, and I looked at both of them, and smiled.

END


End file.
